I had a very interesting experience last night and thought it would be a good idea for me to share that with you. A surgical supply company had hired me to do an out of town presentation for a neurosurgeon last night, it was about a 3-hour drive. As you know, the lecture is supposed to be to Primary Care Physicians and other medical specialist, however the rep for the company misunderstood and invited chiropractors from the area. I have observations and want to share them with you, I am doing this not to point how where THEY were but where all of you are in comparison to the vast majority of the profession. I am doing this to motivate you to “toot” your own horn and let people know what you know and what you are capable of doing as a professional spine doctor.

Dress – only 1 of the 14 had thought to wear a collared shirt and a jacket. The rest were in golf shirts and kakis. One doctor was in shorts and a t-shirt. I wore a suite with a vest and tie. Dress for success – always ONE level above what you would expect the room to be wearing. I cannot stress this enough – you have to look like you know what you are doing and have the class to back it up. It is a very simple thing that is always overlooked. Even when I was at the venue, the staff treated me differently than all the others.

Talk – the first DC that walked in was asked “How is your day going”, his first response to the surgical reps (no other doctors were there yet) was “Great, we saw 65 patients today”. I was in the other room setting up my projector and computer when I overhead that…one of the reps came up to me and said “wow, what is that guys issue?”

CV– NONE, ZERO, ZILCH…not one of the DCs in the room said they have an updated CV. Only ONE said they actually have one. I asked the neurosurgeon in front of everyone, “How do you vet the expertise of doctors you work with?” His response “Their CV”. If you have not updated your CV on the USChiropracticDirectory.com site, do it now. Pay the $30 per month for a preferred listing. It is simple. You staff should be updating that on a regular basis. Many of you are doing 1 hour CME lectures, those are ALL CV entries. MDs will refer A LOT more patients to you if they can see and understand your expertise. Do NOT loose that opportunity. What do you think would happen if I opened a clinic in your community and sent my CV to every MD in the area, then scheduled an introductory meeting with research?

Notes – I asked the neurosurgeon “How often do you get patient reports from chiropractors?” He said “Never”. I keep harping on this because IT MATTERS. The current standard in healthcare is to send a report. There is no standard that says you should send a summary report, in fact that is a complete waste of time. Don’t spend your time re-writing reports. MDs see the summary as a gimmick.

MRI – The lack of MRI expertise was shocking. If you are not Credentialed in MRI Spine Interpretation you need to get that going ASAP. This matters to medical specialists and is an important part of what you do, be the expert. Most chiropractors do NOT know when to call for specialist consultation, we spend some time on simple items like Cord Compression vs. Abutment, talked about doing phone consults with the surgeon using the PACS images [they can look at it while on the phone] and also reviewed the disc pathology nomenclature in detail. These are not only important concepts for you to KNOW, but also importan for you to TEACH…